Malicious Communications allegation - charge avoided

Case study summary

Our client was a professional consultant who worked abroad and could not have a criminal record. After being accused of sending abusive messages to a family member, we carefully negotiated with the police to resolve the matter with a community resolution avoiding any charge.

Case study

We represented a professional man accused of sending Malicious Communication contrary to s.1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

The issue had arisen following a family dispute, following which he was contacted by the police and asked to attend a voluntary interview. Having never been in any trouble before, he was initially uncertain what to do and whether to attend the interview without a solicitor as the situation did not seem too serious.

After speaking to one of our specialist lawyers in the early stages, we advised him on the process for a police interview and the importance of having legal representation even for something that may appear to be quite minor, particularly where due to his work, he could not afford to have any form of criminal record as this could stop him from traveling.

We were instructed to represent him and instantly contacted the investigating officer to try and find out as much information as possible prior to the interview. Once this had been done and discussed in detail with our client to get all of the background detail, we then were able to contact the police again to see whether the situation could be sorted out without going to court or our client even receiving a police caution. We successfully persuaded the police to offer a community resolution which meant no further action would be taken and our client avoided having a criminal record.

This meant he was able to continue his work abroad without the stress of the case ever going to court.